Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts

Department

Music

Committee Chair

Janet Page

Committee Member

Janet Page

Committee Member

John Baur

Committee Member

Kevin Richmond

Committee Member

Mary Wilson

Abstract

Louise Farrenc’s life and work embody the challenges female musicians encountered in the nineteenth century, and the progress they made beyond societal norms and gender-based restrictions. Thanks to her talent, perseverance, teaching position at the Paris Conservatory, and the support of her husband (who encouraged her and edited most of her music), she helped to shape the established societal mindset and impacted history, smoothing the road for future generations of female musicians. By examining Farrenc’s compositions we can gain insight into the contribution of a female musician who successfully established herself as an admired composer as well as a respected pianist and pedagogue, beyond the constraints of her time. My dissertation aims to be a contribution to the rediscovery of Farrenc’s studies by re-evaluating the artistic, pedagogical, and compositional significance of a selection of her set of piano études Op. 41. I will present a study of the first six études of the set of twelve from different angles in the order they are arranged in the opus. Each of the chapters is subdivided into four parts. First, I discuss general aspects of the étude. Following that, I include a music analysis section where I point out peculiarities and provide an in-depth color-coded formal and harmonic analysis reflected on the scores. The third part is based on pedagogical observations. The last part is a general conclusion about each individual étude. In this document, I show how valuable the selected works are by examining them through musical analysis and pedagogical observations, demonstrating their artistic merit, compositional sophistication, and enduring relevance to piano pedagogy despite the pejoratively biased social context in which they originated. Thus, this study sheds light on the valuable historical footprint and pedagogical legacy Farrenc left in her music, reflecting their value in providing helpful ways to stretch the technique of the developing early advanced students.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open Access

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